I was born in NY. On my Mother's side - there were NY and New England people a few ships past the Mayflower. My late Father legally immigrated through Ellis Island with his British passport and was on his way to become an American, yes, one with NO hyphenated nationality before American CITIZEN not illegal alien. A real American FIRST type man who lived the American dream along with falling in love with a young lady in medicine, my Mother, circa WW2. Even though he was British, you know about the British Empire and all, he had to LEARN English because he only knew a little bit of the English language. He did speak several languages as my late Mother did.
I grew up in Maryland. My family moved to MD when I was one. My late Mother accepted a position along with further education @ Johns-Hopkins. Daddy told Mommy to GO for it with his full support... a rare thing back in 1951 from what I recall. For her it would be law or medicine... she made her choice.
Most of the people that I remember from NY and MD were ones from ALL kinds of backgrounds, religions, nationalities, Veterans, professions, socio/economic levels, IDEAS, talk around the dinner table, etc. - a REAL melting pot and everyone got along... none of this whine and pity party garbage that you hear from the $GOOBMINT$ owes me a living from cradle to grave and MANY of those people came over with nothing more than a suitcase or had poor backgrounds. Some were middle class. Some came from upper middle class backgrounds but their family LOST money, stock and land during the 'depression'. Some lost it due to the wars (WW1 and WW2.). They used to talk about GUN RIGHTS along with POLITICS, gasp, and you name it too. The ones who escaped from some country due to a Czar or anyone else getting killed/losing power from that time frame and wars... ended UP in America. LEGAL immigration. Very interesting and it left a HUGE impression on me, my siblings and our friends of ALL ages. GUNS and gun rights were mentioned often. VERY often.
Anyway, as I have said before there are many New Yorkers who hunt and fish along with being 'into guns' and the RKBA issue even though 'most people' don't think so due to the gun laws in NY and in NYC. (I am NO expert in those laws. Okey dokey? I only know some from what I read and I do NOT follow it as I did in my past home in my late husband's home state with the former lying, anti gun, Rino Gov. They have anti gun Reps and Dems, you know! UGH. Same deal with the Maryland laws... I left there when I was in my early 20's.)
My Mother's step father had a VERY nice gun collection. I do remember HIM, their 2 homes, his duck decoys, vacations out there in the summer/winter and even a bit in NYC. Her late Father had a gun - maybe two. I do NOT know if it was a shotgun or what. He lived in NYC where he practiced law but they had a boat out on L.I. He had more fishing gear though! Grin. He died in his 50's. He was a Captain in the Army - Cavalry. I have his Captain - Inactive paper from 1939 here that my Mom passed on to me. He sort of looked like Teddy R. with his eyeglasses, old pictures in his uniform, those old fashioned men's one piece swim suits and business suits, most unusual! He died before I was born but I was told tons about him, read letters, old pictures, etc. Anyway... some were hunters and some were into fishing more. Her Great grandfather who she never met due to being a NY policeman killed in the line of duty had a couple of guns. The Uncles and even some Aunts had shotguns and rifles. I have NO clue about their hand guns IF any.
We used to take the train and sometimes drive to NY while I was growing up from 1950 and on. I have NEVER ever been treated badly in NY and that included NYC. Same as in Maryland. I have not been to NY since the early 90's or so. I have not been to MD since 1996.
A New York story and a GUN discussion among many GUN discussions throughout my life. I had to go from the Great Lakes region to Baltimore, MD and from MD to NY for a funeral, the funeral/requiem mass was in MD, the burial was in up state NY - family situation that my "Aunt" had to honor the wishes of her late cousin who she cared for since 1966, meet up with another priest UP there, etc. I drove my late Aunt Catherine all over NY with her directions, got lost some, she had not lived there since she left there in the late 40's, met up with her childhood and WW2 friends, her Fordham Law School group, some from Hunter College, etc. I got lost twice - some really sweet NY firemen were rolling up hoses - later on backing their truck up into this VERY narrow fire station and helped me. I got lost twice so I circled around and lo and behold... there they were again. Now you just KNOW that the firemen know their STREETS well and they did. They were most kind to me as an out of state lady who was LOST again. So I jumped out of her car again for MORE directions even though I had written them down and felt even MORE stupid - I had to drive with her giving me directions... anyway, they told me where I screwed up in my dang turn. Holy moly - what a crazy few days. She had "OLD" AAA maps, insisted that she did not need new ones, knew this and that for directions while I had the death grip on the steering wheel of her car. I kept trying to find a clutch since I always drove stick shift... I had to realize it was an automatic with power this and that. I kept telling her that things changed from the 40's AFTER WW 2 and she told me that the geography, the bridges, etc. were the same, she had been back and forth to NY all of those past years, and she had every confidence in ME that I could get her to the funeral UP state along with hitting every dang borough, it seemed, to meet so and so here, there and everywhere!!! I don't drink but I sure thought about it! She insisted on taking a dinner gift of wine and scotch for an old friend, you must NOT go empty handed, no time to shop or bake a cake, so that was ANOTHER interesting experience somewhere in Queens - Flushing is in Queens (?) I think. I asked if it was a SAFE area and she just laughed. "Now don't worry and it will be fine dear." Park the car, walk several blocks looking for the apartment building but first we must buy the gift for the dinner and the childhood friend. NO GUN, sigh, I WANTED a GUN badly, I needed a GUN and I FELT NAKED and VULNERABLE as I have in many travel situations where peons can't pack heat! Plus I had Aunt Catherine with me who was a petite lady even though she was a POWERFUL lawyer! (She had been mugged, knocked down and robbed in Baltimore, MD in daylight - I wrote about that here and elsewhere. NO clue about NY even though she was street wise all of her life. She refused to live in fear like some women, worked long hours, self made and was a kind, no bs, smart, common sense, stubborn at times, lawyer and single LADY to the day she died in my arms.) I did have a VERY small pocket knife in my purse, she was a fast walker for her age as I used to walk fairly fast, I suggested we could clobber any BAD GUY with our high heels if we could not out run them. I prayed that there would be no gangs milling around the store where you had to buy the dinner gift or some thief or drunk or PERVERT! Eeewww. Too many mystery books I know. Ha! "Now, Catherine, you have been living in FARM country too long and even though NY and MD have changed - there are ways that you can DEAL with this." Little Catherine, meaning me, that was my nickname sometimes, she was Big Catherine - go figure! It must have been her age not her HEIGHT! She was my mentor, my late Mom's BEST friend, HS/college friend, not her sister/blood relative, family lawyer... anyway, Little Catherine replied to her, "Aunt Catherine, I can DEAL with this funeral trip as long as it is not OUR LAST TRIP together along with finding the homes of all of your old friends (Late Mom's too.) IF I HAD ___'s 357Magnum revolver with me!" Aunt Catherine's reply was, "YES, dear, I wish that we could have a gun too but since this is NY and WE are guests - not from here anymore, I do NOT think that New York's finest would appreciate YOU walking around with your husband's GUN in your purse or hand. After all, WE can't break the law especially since I can and do practice law in NY and MD! Now how would that look?" Little Catherine/moi/me replied, "I don't give a rat's butt on HOW it LOOKS - it sure would make me feel better and SAFE!" REPLY... "Now that will be enough and ladies do NOT curse. Subject closed." The 'look' over her eyeglasses with her green eyes. Yes, the subject was closed since I could NOT have a gun there for self defense and most likely not CCW if I DID LIVE THERE - just like in my NO CCW farm state. I did not NEED a gun on that trip but I sure would have felt better with a GUN on that trip and ALL of the other trips in my 'former life'. That goes for the 30 some years in a NO CCW state and NO loaded gun allowed in your vehicle! The SON of the old friend of Aunt Catherine's walked us back to her car after that dinner. He drove ahead of me in his car to our hotel. He walked us to OUR room, checked inside the room to be sure that we were safe for the night. It is a good thing that he did that for us because if he had not... I would have missed some weird street loop and most likely ended up like the MAN ON THE MTA song by the Kingston Trio!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VMSGrY-IlU
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kingston_Trio
http://www.timelife.com/webapp/wcs/...tegory=&productId=210907&sourcekey=Y81GSCHGGL
NY has GREAT people just like any other state and/or city. NY has some beautiful places and off the beaten path places too. NY has or had from what I 'remember' nice shows, great museums, great libraries, wonderful book stores, unusual shops, good food, KIND, smart, common sense people including many CONSERVATIVES throughout the state - believe it or not. Especially the OLDER ones that I knew as a kid and grown woman. Same as in Maryland. I do NOT know or understand how SOME of those other politicians and THOSE anti gunners ever got elected! Some of the NY people that I knew and ones that moved from THERE - still do NOT figure it out on how some people get elected. Well, some have figured it out but not EVERYONE hates guns on the east coast and in NY as some people think. (The same goes for CA - I have never been there but you have good and bad people there PLUS some crazy (Unconstitutional!) gun laws there too!)
Good and bad in all people and in ALL parts of the country. I remember the Cloisters a bit back when I was 16 years old. My late Mom took me up there on one trip when she had a conference in NY. I took the train up there alone to meet her at the hotel. I remember bits and pieces even a convent and school somewhere called Saint Joseph by the Sea place - I think it was Staten Island. Great Aunt Lillie aka Sister R.P. taught there. Bits and pieces jog my memory - same as in Maryland.
I would like to show my MT born/raised husband some of NY if we go to New England. Same as with D.C. and the Vietnam Memorial, other things, museums and into Maryland. He will not go to CA although he was there as a very young man in his 20's visiting his sister. He does not want to visit NY or MD or D.C. at this time. Part of ME (95%) feels the same WAY as HE feels - not being able to protect myself and it ALL makes me VERY SAD too. To think that WE the PEOPLE can't visit our nation's capitol and not protect ourselves. (I used to go there often as a KID in a group living in MD. I went through D.C. as a USN bride when I lived in VA during the Nam era. Back and forth from VA to MD.) I want to visit many places and I do travel. Some of these places are ones that I want to SHOW my Montana husband/groom. Show him the HISTORY. Go to some of the OTHER places that my late husband told me about from his USN around the world and Nam time plus all over the country/around the world with his Air NG time. He used to travel overseas quite a bit as my late parents did too. Now... I think about safety even more - even though I ALWAYS wanted something like our 'house gun' for safety/security. We have to feel defenseless and a potential victim in this day and age. NOT too cool in my book. (Yeah, I know that this got off topic for me since it is about NY, NY museums including cool gun collections, travel in NY and elsewhere... and GREAT New York people!)
Hello to the New Yorkers even though I moved from there to Maryland when I was only one year old!
Catherine - Armed and Female
Montana Territory
